Omdurman mosque worshippers protest killing of S. Kordofan children

May 13, 2016 (KHARTOUM) – Following the Friday prayer worshippers at Al-Ansar mosque in Wad Nabawi neighbourhood of Omdurman organized a sit-in to protest the recent killing of six children during an airstrike on the rebel controlled areas in South Kordofan.

Siddiq al-Mahdi, a son of the opposition leader Sadiq Al-Mahdi, addressed the protesters, who raised pictures of the victim children inside and outside the mosque.

Sudanese security arrested a number of the male and female activists who took part in the peaceful protest.

Al-Ansar mosque is one of the bastions of the opposition National Umma Party (NUP) in the Sudanese capital. During the past years it was the gathering point for protests against the government of President Omer al-Bashir.

During his Friday sermon, the mosque preacher and deputy Secretary General of the Ansar Sect, Adam Ahmed Yousif condemned bombardment of civilian-inhabited areas and described the incident as “the ugly massacre”.

He also pointed out to painful pictures of children killed in South Kordofan circulated by social media.

The preacher of the mosque said that “these inhuman crimes were committed by the air forces of Al-Ingaz (Salvation) regime …The scene of children bodies, who were killed as a result of this criminal act, makes whoever sees this view grief and sorrow about the situation in our country”

He said that the head of the Ansar Sect and NUP Sadiq al-Mahdi, had called on the Sudanese people to protest peacefully against the bombardment of civilians and through the organizations of demonstrations and sit-ins.

Al-Ansar sect is the NUP’s religious wing.

Earlier this month, the spokesperson of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM-N), Arnu Ngutulu Lodi, said that a military aerial raid on Heiban area in South Kordofan on the first of May claimed the lives of 6 children from one family.

The rebel group, earlier, said that its leadership is making contacts with the French lawyers to file cases on behalf of the victims’ families.

Also, the SPLM-N Secretary General Yasir Arman said they lodged a complaint to the United Nations urging to investigate the attack on innocent civilians.

(ST)